The new Apple CEO faces a severe test of retaining core talent.

Apple's next CEO, John Tanner, faced a major challenge at the beginning of his tenure: to stabilize the core talent amidst a period of historically high employee turnover. After experiencing several years of relatively stable workforce demographics, Apple recently faced a wave of resignations, including members of the executive team and grassroots engineers. Tanner, who took over from Tim Cook in September of this year, has the responsibility of stabilizing the company's talent pool. Apple has recently realized that its top core talent is at risk of attrition. At the end of last year, chip industry executive Johny Srugi informed Cook that he was seriously considering leaving the company, headquartered in Cupertino, California. He confided in some colleagues that leading the company's vast chip development business for an extended period had taken a toll on him mentally and physically. He was hands-on, tirelessly pursuing industry-leading technological breakthroughs, and the high-pressure work had drained him. Srugi told Cook that he was considering pursuing career opportunities on other platforms.